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A North Dakota Catholic high school principal has been charged with setting fire to the building, forcing classes to be canceled for the week and rendering the half-century-old schoolhouse unusable until at least summer. Thomas Joseph Sander, 30, is accused of torching the contents of a file cabinet in Trinity High School's office vault early Monday with the intent to burn down at least part of the structure, which is in Dickinson. Sander is charged with arson and endangerment by fire. The latter charge was merited, prosecutors said, because Sander knew someone was staying inside the school’s second-floor apartments, yet showed an “extreme indifference to the...

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A North Dakota Catholic high school principal has been charged with setting fire to the building, forcing classes to be canceled for the week and rendering the half-century-old schoolhouse unusable until at least summer.
Thomas Joseph Sander, 30, is...

In Thursday's Pictures in the News, a NASA-funded sounding rocket launches into an aurora over Venetie, Alaska, in the early morning. Pretoria, South Africa: Olympian Oscar Pistorius listens to evidence from a witness speaking about the morning of the shooting

Wednesday's Pictures in the News begins in the Big Easy, as revelers throw beads in the rain to crowds below from the balcony during Mardi Gras festivities in the French Quarter in New Orleans. Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday

Mardi Gras is Tuesday -- do you have your king cake?
At first sight, it may come across as, well, a little unusual. A large wreath-shaped cake bedazzled in vibrant shades of purple, green and gold — there's nothing subtle about it. It might be flavored...

Like everything Stephen Colbert does on television, it's set up as a joke.
A nun and a television host walk into a studio. They discuss the recent papal censure of American nuns for "perpetrating a feminist agenda." The host takes a hard line....

PORTLAND, Ore. — When Jackie Yerby and a small band of devout Catholics go to the cathedral for Mass this Ash Wednesday, they will be sending an unmistakable message. Pinned to their lapels will be big white buttons that proclaim, "Catholic...

For those of you who think Mardi Gras is just about free pancakes and colorful beads, think again. Mardi Gras, which literally means Fat Tuesday, is deeply embedded in the Christian ethos, with a rich tradition of carefree, excessive pleasure and acting...

At first sight, it comes across as, well, a little unusual. A large wreath-shaped cake bedazzled in vibrant shades of purple, green and gold — there's nothing subtle about it. It might be flavored simply with a touch of cinnamon sugar, or maybe it's...

Two questions immediately presented themselves when it was announced that "The Exorcist" was going to be done onstage: How? And why?At the show's premiere Wednesday at the Geffen Playhouse, the creators seemed to be searching for answers to...

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, currently at the Vatican to help select a new pope, has spoken out on Twitter and his blog about forgiving enemies. Critics have slammed Mahony for going to Rome after new revelations that he worked to ...

Wednesday's Pictures in the News begins in Japan, where vocational students raise their fists during a rally to start off job-hunting in Tokyo. The Japanese government announced 10.3 trillion yen in spending last month, which it predicts will increase gross do

Rio Carnival is a wild 4 day celebration, 40 days before Easter. It officially starts on Saturday and finishes on Fat Tuesday with the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. There are carnival celebrations in virtually every corner of Brazil, the best-known ones

As surprise washed over Catholic parishioners Monday after the resignation announcement by Pope Benedict XVI, retired nun Mary Dispenza was left saddened that Cardinal Roger M. Mahony will have a hand in picking the pontiff's successor. Mahony, who was strippe

Responding to protests over his attendance at the conclave in Rome to elect a new pope, Cardinal Roger Mahony told Catholic News Service this week that the Vatican told him to come to Rome and participate.

Yvonne Villarreal sat down with Ethan Hawke last week to talk about "Daybreakers," the futuristic vampire-virus film that opens this Friday. Whatever happened to the 90-minute movie? Ethan Hawke is mulling that over, slouched in a dining chair inside a ...

Good morning Los Angeles. Mardi Gras is here (well, not exactly here, it's in New Orleans) and so Happy Fat Tuesday, Merry Paczki Day or Fastnacht Day or Fausnaught Day or whatever you want to call it, to you! Ash Wednesday is coming up, so be sure to stuff yo

Prepare yourself. Tomorrow this could be you, your friend, or an annoying stranger eating breakfast at a nearby table. Shrove Tuesday - aka the day before Ash Wednesday, aka "Pancake Day" - isn't until next week but the friendly marketers at the International